Rice Blast Outbreak reported in parts of Kaduna (Birnin-Gwari and Maigana)

The Kaduna State Government on Saturday expressed concern on the reported outbreak of a rice disease, known as rice blast, in some parts of the state.

Officials of the the Kaduna Agricultural Development Project (KADP) are already expressing fear that the infection, caused by the bacteria, Magnaporthe grisea, would affect the annual projected rice yield in the state.

KADP’s Media officer, Malam Shehu Aliyu told journalists in Kaduna that the outbreak had been reported in Birnin-Gwari and Maigana farming zones of the state.

“This is where the crop is cultivated in commercial quantity and the disease is currently causing rust on rice leaves.”

Aliyu said extension service workers had been deployed to the areas to take samples for laboratory analysis to ascertain the extent of the outbreak and the total areas affected.

He said the outbreak in addition to the recent flood disaster may likely affect the projected rice yield of the state during the current harvest.

He appealed to rice farmers not to panic, assuring that the state government had taken steps to ascertain the cause of the outbreak in order to control its spread. Vanguard

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